PHILADELPHIA – Can we do this now, please? Cast aside these Phillies and Whatever Rays and get onto the World Series most of the country really wants to see?

Let’s be honest, everybody not stuck living in Philadelphia and retired in Tampa Bay, wants to see a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series.

That’s high drama.

That’s theater in the yard.

Or do you think the country is pining for a Phillies-Rays series? Right. Think Fox TV really wants to bump “House” for that snoozer?

That would be so dull, the nation might actually notice the National Hockey League season has started. So deflating, Bud Selig might return to selling cars.

The Dodgers and Red Sox, now that would be a national fascination. Come on, who doesn’t want to see Manny Ramirez go up against his old team on baseball’s greatest stage?

Manny’s first at-bat against the Red Sox would leave the country riveted. Everything would stop like it was a Presidential debate. OK, maybe better than that.

That’s not even counting Dodgers who are former Red Sox like Derek Lowe, Nomar Garciaparra and Frank McCourt.

“Just to start hearing people speculate, it’s a long ways away,” Lowe said. “But it would be a lot of fun if it happened.”

Fun, are you kidding me? This would be a Robin Williams-Chris Rock-Bill Murray-Will Smith extravaganza.

Top metropolitan areas, from opposite coasts, cities of champions, already with a heated Lakers-Celtics rivalry, or Philadelphia-Tampa Bay?

Get serious.

Tampa Bay isn’t even a city. It’s more an area surrounding a giant estuary. It’s the place you go when the hotels are booked in Orlando. It’s home to a universally disliked ballpark.

Jon Gruden provided a Super Bowl title when his Bucs roughed up Al Davis’ Raiders, but beyond that Tampa can claim just one bizarre 2004 NHL title (I’m counting it) amongst its professional sports teams.

Then there’s Philadelphia, that historic city of sports losers. The place professional sports teams go to die. Of all the major U.S. cities who have laid claim to teams in the four major professional sports (yes, I’m counting the NHL), none can compare to the futility of Philadelphia.

There now, Cubbie fans, doesn’t that make you feel just a teeny bit better?

As you’ve possibly heard, the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 100 years. We’ll pause now, for a small moment of silence.

But before the Cubs became the poster child for losers, there were the Phillies.

The Phillies went 98 years without a World Series title until finally pushing through in 1980. And they haven’t won a World Series since.

“But it’s one more than Chicago has,” said Dodgers coach, and ex-Phillie Larry Bowa. “I’m just kidding.”

That big joker. The Phillies have been so traditionally terrible, they’ve won only five entire postseason series in their 125-year history.

At least Philadelphia once had the A’s, who last won a title so long ago the pregame flyover was executed by Amelia Earhart.

The last time Philadelphia could call itself a championship city was when the Sixers took the NBA title in 1983. That’s 25 years without a title in Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL or NHL (really, it counts).

That’s futility on a level unrecognized in Los Angeles, and certainly Boston.

Get these Phils and Rays out of here. Can we make the league championship series a one-game event and get on with it?

Manny vs. the Red Sox is a gift from the baseball heavens. Just imagine the loathing that would emanate from Boston. Can’t you just feel the hatred?

The superstar who decided he wanted out of Boston at any price, even if it meant taking a day off here and there.

Dodgers fans may not recognize the Manny vilified in Boston, but don’t believe for an instant Red Sox fans or the baseball community has simply forgotten.

Just Tuesday, Fox broadcaster Tim McCarver was going off on Manny, praising his contributions to the Dodgers but disparaging the way in which he forced Boston’s hand.

“It’s extraordinary – the dichotomy between what he was in Boston and what he is in Los Angeles,” McCarver told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I mean, talk about wearing out your welcome in a town, and it was a long welcome with the Red Sox.

“But some of the things he did were simply despicable, despicable – like not playing, refusing to play. Forgetting what knee to limp on. And now it’s washed, it’s gone.”

Manny, holding court with the media Wednesday during the NLCS workout the way he never did in Boston, shrugged off the McCarver comments.

“I don’t want to talk about Boston,” Manny said. “That’s in the past. Talk to me about here.”

Manny said he did extend himself in Boston.

“I played hard,” he said. “Sometimes I jogged it out, but I did play hard.”

Sometimes you have a World Series to remember, sometimes you get Philadelphia-Tampa Bay.

The Phillies and Whatever Rays are a threat to our national entertainment dollar. Let’s dismiss with these would-be party crashers as quickly as possible and move on to the main event.